Kohr v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc., s. 73-1392
| Decision Date | 26 November 1974 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 73-1392,73-1393,s. 73-1392 |
| Citation | 504 F.2d 400 |
| Parties | Jill Mary KOHR, Executrix of the Estate of Robert H. Kohr, Deceased, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ALLEGHENY AIRLINES, INC., and United States of America, Defendants-Appellants, v. FORTH CORPORATION et al., Third-Party Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Walter E. Rutherford, New York City, and Emerson Boyd, Indianapolis, Ind. (Robert L. Alpert, Robert B. Haserot, New York City, and William V. Hutchens, Indianapolis, Ind., on the brief), for Allegheny Airlines, Inc., and GECC Leasing Corp.
R. Stanley Lawton and Arthur P. Kalleres, Indianapolis, Ind., for Brookside Corp.
James E. Rocap, Jr., and Thomas P. Ledgerwood, Indianapolis, Ind., for Forth Corp.
Floyd W. Burns and Richard R. McDowell, Indianapolis, Ind., for Lee LeMay, Administrator.
Harlington Wood, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Washington, D.C., Stanley B. Miller, U.S. Atty., Indianapolis, Ind., Morton Hollander and Michael H. Stein, Washington, D.C., for the United States.
Before SWYGERT, Chief Judge, KILEY, 1 Senior Circuit Judge, and HOFFMAN, 2 Senior District Judge.
Defendants-appellants Allegheny Airlines, Inc. and the United States, appeal from the dismissal of their cross-claims and third-party complaints for indemnity and contribution against defendants-appellees Brookside Corporation (Brookside), Forth Corporation (Forth is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brookside), and the estate of Robert W. Carey. The instant actions arise out of a mid-air collision on September 9, 1969, in the airspace over Fairland, Indiana between an Allegheny Airlines DC-9-31 jet aircraft and a Piper Cherokee aircraft piloted by Robert W. Carey and owned by Forth. The events surrounding the collision are set out in detail in the companion case to this action. Allegheny Airlines, Inc. and GECC Leasing Corp. v. United States of America, et al., 504 F.2d 104 (7th Cir. 1974), and need only be briefly recounted here.
The Allegheny aircraft was operated as Flight No. 853 en route from Cincinnati, Ohio to Indianapolis, Indiana. At the time of the collision Flight No. 853 was flying under an instrument flight rules clearance from Cincinnati to Indianapolis and was receiving and adhering to air traffic control radar directions from an air traffic controller employed by the Federal Aviation Administration at the Indianapolis Approach Control facility located at Indianapolis' Weir Cook Airport. The Piper Cherokee aircraft was operated by Carey, a student pilot, under visual flight rules. At the time of the collision Carey was engaged in a solo cross-country flight from Brookside Airport, McCordsville, Indiana to Bakalar Air Force Base, Columbus, Indiana. As a result of the mid-air collision both aircraft were totally destroyed and all eighty-three occupants were killed.
Subsequent to the accident, wrongful death actions were commenced on behalf of the estates of all the deceased passengers save one, the estates of three of the four Allegheny crew members, and the estate of Robert W. Carey. In addition, property damages suits were initiated to recover for the destruction of the two aircraft. All of these suits were commenced in various federal district courts on the basis of diversity of citizenship as to defendants Allegheny, Brookside, Forth, and the estate of Carey, and the Federal Tort Claims Act as to the defendant United States. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation assumed jurisdiction over the various actions commenced outside of Indiana and pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1407 transferred them to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana for the purpose of supervision of the pretrial discovery. In re Mid-Air Collision Near Fairland, Indiana, 309 F.Supp. 621 (Jud.Pan.Mult.Lit.1970). Subsequent to the section 1407 transfer, the district court judge issued orders pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1404 transferring cases from respective transferor forums to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and consolidated those cases with other companion cases that had been initially commenced in the Indiana district court. By the time of trial Allegheny and the United States had filed cross-claims and third-party complaints against Brookside, Forth, and the estate of Carey seeking indemnity and contribution.
The first group of passenger cases was assigned to trial on February 22, 1972. The district judge severed all cross-claims and third-party complaints between the parties and deferred resolution of those issues until a future date. After the commencement of the February trial which involved as defendants Allegheny, the United States, Brookside, Forth, and the estate of Carey, an agreement was arrived at between the United States and the liability insurers of Allegheny for a pro-rata formula to be utilized between them in disposing of all cases, whether by settlement or judgment. The defendants Forth, Brookside, and estate of Carey were not parties to, and did not contribute anything to or under the agreement. Thereafter, on motion of plaintiffs and defendants Allegheny and the United States, the first group of passenger cases on trial were terminated and all claims, cross-claims, and third-party complaints were dismissed without prejudice pending a hearing on the reasonableness of the compromise. The district court found the compromise to be reasonable and accordingly Allegheny's insurers and the United States proceeded to settle the remaining passenger cases.
On December 5, 1972 the district court entered an order dismissing all actions including the plaintiffs' complaints as well as defendants' cross-claims, third-party complaints, and counterclaims. All such claims were to be dismissed with prejudice as of January 5, 1973. Both Allegheny and the United States moved to vacate the December 5 entry objecting to the dismissal with prejudice of their claims over for indemnity and contribution against Forth, Brookside, and the estate of Carey. At a hearing on January 5, 1973 the district judge vacated its prior order of December 5, 1972 and directed that the plaintiffs' actions were to be dismissed without prejudice. At the same time the district judge allowed defendants Forth, Brookside, and the estate of Carey to file additional paragraphs of their answer pleading the defenses of res judicata, collateral estoppel, voluntary payment, accord and satisfaction, and failure to state a claim for relief in that no right to indemnity and contribution existed under Indiana law.
Thereafter, the court proceeded to grant the motions of Forth, Brookside, and the estate of Carey to dismiss the claims by Allegheny and the United States for indemnity and contribution by virtue of the application of Indiana law. In addition, the court granted summary judgment to Brookside, Forth, and the estate of Carey on the basis of the affirmative defenses of voluntary payment and accord and satisfaction in that the memorandum of agreement between Allegheny's liability insurers and the United States and the settlement of actions pursuant thereto constituted voluntary payments and accords and satisfactions. The court also granted summary judgment to Brookside on the separate defenses of res judicata and collateral estoppel as a result of the judgment entered in Allegheny Airlines, Inc. and GECC Leasing Corp. v. United States of America, et al., in which it had been previously held that Brookside Corporation was not responsible for the torts committed by its wholly-owned subsidiary Forth Corporation.
Allegheny and the United States raise various issues in an appeal, to which we address the following: (1) whether the district court erred in dismissing the cross-claims and third-party complaints for indemnity and contribution for failure to state claims upon which relief may be granted; (2) whether the district court correctly granted summary judgment to Brookside on the basis of res judicata and collateral estoppel; (3) whether the district court properly entered summary judgment on the basis that settlement of plaintiffs' claims by Allegheny and the United States constituted voluntary payment which barred any claims by Allegheny and the United States against the defendants; (4) whether the district court erred in granting summary judgment to Forth, Brookside, and the estate of Carey on the ground that the agreement between Allegheny's liability insurers and the United States constituted an accord and satisfaction thereby barring any claim for indemnity and contribution; and (5) whether the district court erred in entering an order dismissing all plaintiffs' claims without prejudice.
In view of our decision in the companion case of Allegheny Airlines, Inc. and GECC Leasing Corp. v. United States of America, et al., 504 F.2d 104 (7th Cir. 1974), Allegheny and the United States are precluded on the basis of the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel from further pursuit of their claims for contribution and indemnity from the defendant Brookside. Accordingly, we affirm the district court on that issue. With respect to the remaining issues, however, we reverse and remand to the district court for trial.
Allegheny contends that it was error for the district court to dismiss its cross-claims and third-party complaints for indemnity and contribution. The district court held that Indiana law was controlling on these claims and that under Indiana law there could be no...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Southern Pacific Transp. Co. v. United States
...should include the doctrine of comparative negligence, should be applied." Id. at 1316. The plaintiff relied on Kohr v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc., 504 F.2d 400 (7th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 978, 95 S.Ct. 1980, 44 L.Ed.2d 470 (1975). The Bowen court noted that it need not consider t......
-
American Motorcycle Assn. v. Superior Court
...e. g., United States v. Reliable Transfer Co. (1975) 421 U.S. 397, 405-411, 95 S.Ct. 1708, 44 L.Ed.2d 251; Kohr v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc. (7th Cir. 1974) 504 F.2d 400, 405; Gomes v. Brodhurst (3d Cir. 1967) 394 F.2d 465, 467-470; Packard v. Whitten, supra, 274 A.2d 169, 179-180; Bielski v......
-
In re Air Crash Disaster at Washington, DC
...have looked to federal common law or federal aviation regulations as a source of uniform principles. E.g., Kohr v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc., 504 F.2d 400, 403-05 (7th Cir.1974), cert. denied, Forth v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc., 421 U.S. 978, 95 S.Ct. 1979, 44 L.Ed.2d 470 (1975) (federal comm......
-
Northwest Airlines, Inc v. Transport Workers Union of America
...U.S. 217, 224, 25 S.Ct. 226, 227, 49 L.Ed. 453 (1905). However, the modern trend, as evidenced by cases such as Kohr v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc., 504 F.2d 400 (7th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 978, 95 S.Ct. 1980, 44 L.Ed.2d 470 (1975), has been to recognize a right to contribution und......